Ford Michigan Assembly Innovates Production and goes “Green”


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Ford Motor Company celebrated the launch of the 2012 Ford Focus with employees, dealers, suppliers, media and other invited guests at the Michigan Assembly Plant. -credit Ford

Ford Motor Company has spent about $550 million to totally renovate and transform its Michigan Assembly Plant (MAP) which produces the new Ford Focus. Much more than just re-tooling for a new vehicle line, the upgrades at the plant create a friendly work atmosphere with flexible manufacturing capabilities, all in a more environmentally “green” facility.

“MAP epitomizes the best of what Ford stands for – fuel efficiency, quality, smart technology,” said Mark Fields, president of The Americas. “Focus delivers even more of what customers truly want and value – and this new car could not arrive in the market at a better time.”

In this world’s-first-of-its-kind facility, Ford will have the flexibility, on a single production line, to produce a wide range of vehicles including gas-powered, electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid.

One of many innovations in the new plant include a new painting process which incorporates robotic processing. The process reduces equipment and increases line speed resulting in an about  6,000 to 8,000 fewer metric tons of CO2 emissions per year.

“In most other automotive plants, we apply a layer of paint called the primer coat and we bake the unit, and then we put on the base coat and the clear coat, and we bake it again,” said John Nowak, environmental engineer. “The three-wet process allows us to put on primer, base and clear, and bake it only once. We save all the electricity from the blowers that run the booths and the ovens, plus all the natural gas from heating the air and the ovens. Ford is leading the way on this greener, cleaner paint process.”

The plant itself also gets a lot of its power from the sun with one of the largest solar power generation systems in the state. Ford estimates that the solar power will save approximately $160,000 per year.

Source: Ford Motor Company

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Ed Dixon - as an experienced writer and proven business leader, Mr. Dixon is the primary contributor for news related to Business and Finance. ed_dixon@newstaar.com